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 Replies: 15 / Views: 2,014 |
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Valued Member
United States
128 Posts |
I am a new collector and am trying to decide what to focus on first. I am looking for some suggestions with the folllowing in mind. I am on a very small budget (maybe $20 a month.) Aside from collect what you like advice, I am looking for some suggestions for interesting/aesthetically pleasing/just plain cool/inexpensive & undervalued coins to collect.
I already am somewhat interested in British Half Pennies, Pennies and Shillings. I like the look of the monograms on Swedish coins. I don't have too much interest in Asian or Arabic (at least I don't think.) I also like the look of some of the Vatican coins.
Any help would be appreciated. Edited by Nazarene
06/11/2010 9:49 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1801 Posts |
I would suggest going ot a coin show and looking at al the different kinds of coins, see what really catches your eye. Then "buy the book" (meaning learn about the coins). Then start collecting. Several interesting ideas would be Canadian Large Cents, British Colony coins, or Mexican silver coins (there are many to choose from and you could acquire 1 every 2 months or so and build up a nice collection.
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Valued Member
 United States
128 Posts |
Thanks. I have been to the local coin shop a couple of times and looked through about 20lbs of coins. I brought about 120 or so home (mostly WWII European) and have been looking at them. I got a couple of referene books from the library and have been looking through that as well.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2605 Posts |
One of the ideas would be looking at your heritage. You could collect coins of the country (countries) that have roots of your family. Learn more about the history and culture along the way.
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Valued Member
United States
155 Posts |
I would think you need to make some decisions on where your interests lie. Would buying 1 $20 coin each month be satisfying for you and keep you engaged in the hobby? Would getting a pile of random less expensive coins that don't necessarily hold a high collector value make your collection still feel special to you?
I'm on a tight budget with coins myself and I've enjoyed picking up and sorting through bags of foreign coins for new and better quality coins but this part of my collection doesn't have much focus. For me if I was spending a higher amount on one coin I would opt for workin on a type set of some sort so each time I got a coin it would be a different new coin and not just another date in a series. Some people love the quest of completing a series though.
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
I've had a lot of fun collecting birth year sets of foreign coins.
Of course, at my age those are mostly shells and stones, but still ...
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Valued Member
United States
74 Posts |
Personally I would focus on buying 1,2 or 3 coins a month on that type of budget. It will probably be more meaningful to you in the long run. I do not collect coins so that I have an investment that the value will increase in the future. I buy what I like and try to get the best price for the coin so that I am satisfied. This brings a lot of meaning to me for my collection. I will buy a coin that has some type of meaning to me. I first started out just buying for example a VF Peace dollar of any date that I could get for under $20 just so I could have a Peace silver dollar in my collection. This helped me to initially build up a collection that had some type of meaning to me. I did some research so that I would know what the price of buying a particular coin should be. |
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Valued Member
United States
128 Posts |
Thank you all for the replies. Some very good points and suggestions. The newness of everything at the moment is exciting in and of itself. Practicaly speaking, I know that finding 1 or 2 good coins a month at the top of my vudget will yield the most satisfying collection for me long term. It is sort of like when I collected sports cards when I was younger. If I had spent my money on a few choice cards instead of hundreds of packs, I would enjoy the collection more today. But that wasn't much "fun." But I ended up with a bunch of junk and got rid of 90% of it. I don;t want to repeat that with my new interest/hobby.
I don't know if at this moment, buying 1 coin a month would satisfy my newfound zeal for coins. I still haven't seen 99% of what is available. I keep looking and reading and looking some more. There is nothing quite like having the coins in hand though. Maybe more coin bucket searching is in order. I enjoy the history that the coins represent, ergo I enjoy a 1941 coin or an 1863 coin more than I do a 2010 or a 1997, regardless of their "value." I also am partial to the look and feel of the coins. So I would rather look at a 1989 10 Peso from Chile than a 1987 50 Pfennig from Germany though the Pfennig is valued higher.
At the moment I don't feel like collecting 1 coin (type)exclusively will give me the enjoyment that I want. I may regret it later, ala my sports cards. But, I also don't want a random pile of fairly worthless coins either. Ugh. Maybe something in the middle to start with? The occasional bag of coins, balanced with choice coin purchases? Can I have my cake and eat it too? Maybe alternating months or paychecks (bulk vs choice coins.) At least until I hae a better idea where I want to focus. Then switch to seeking out my "coins of choice."
Edited by Nazarene
06/12/2010 01:47 am
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1063 Posts |
I collect mainly circulating coins that are cheap. Getting together country sets can be quite fun, the current circulating coins and those of the 20th century can normally be had for a small price.
When most of the smaller coins are worth 20cents and there are a few that are more expensive.
I don't have the money to be spending on expensive coins very often, I often collect whilst travelling too.
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
Hi Nazarene and welcome.
Your thoughts on "Maybe alternating months or paychecks (bulk vs choice coins.) At least until I hae a better idea where I want to focus. Then switch to seeking out my "coins of choice."" sounds reasonable enough. I started by collecting just about anything and everything but just never got round to specializing and that's after about 20 years! Happy with my choice? Heck yes! I just love the sheer breadth and volume of what's out there. I don't think I could just sit and wait for a few that I wanted to become available. I guess I'm a real junkie and need my regular fix ( just did a quick calculation: current collection = 11,349 coins over 20 years - a round figure = 1.55 coins a day - yep I'm a junkie!)
Best of luck with your eventual choice and don't forget that there's a world of information from a lot of experts on this forum.
Vic
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Pillar of the Community
Luxembourg
588 Posts |
Hi Nazarene,
I believe indeed it is a good idea to see as many coins as possible to make your decision about what you want to collect.
Maybe you will decide to make a general collection with all coins you can lay hand on or maybe you will find a country or some specific, like big copper coins or coins with monograms on them or ...
Then you can specialize on that.
I believe in any case you ill need a good catalogue. If you don't want to spend too much money, try to find a used Krause & Mishler (KM). They are very complete and give a good overview of what exists together an idea of the market value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
Try roll searching halves, cents, and nickels to try and find coins that you can sell above face value or just add to you collection and then re-roll the leftovers and take them back. Any profits made could then be used to boost your buying power once you decide what path you will take in the hobby.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Nazarene- Welcome! I agree with everyone that you should collect what you like and try to have a refined collection (though "refined" does not necessarily mean having few coins or only top-grade coins. Rather, it is how you define it so long as you have a focus.). I too love British pennies, half pennies, & etc. They are beautiful and often surprisingly cheap. If you really want to get a nice collection rather quickly of coins of this ilk, you can look in a lot of dealers' junk boxes. Also, I would recommend British Farthings. They are a wee bit larger than a US penny and were made with the same design as the penny until 1936 followed by a design bearing the image of a bird until 1956. Britons hated using them, so they rarely ever circulated and therefore can be found in high grades for very little money. You can probably amass a collection of 20th century farthings in VF-BU range for less than $1 a coin. In fact I just got my 1916 in EF a couple of days ago from a 25 cent junk box. So sometimes the availability rather than the price can be the challenge.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
507 Posts |
Your collecting habits and budget aren't much different than mine. I like picking through junk bins for coins that are unusual. As I've progressed, I find I recognize more coins and the unusual ones are harder to find. British pennies are nice. Not only do you get the different monarchs, but there are different designs for Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, etc... Many people are One From Each Country (or OFEC) collectors, with varying definitions or restrictions. You can get coins from 100-150 different countries for bargain bin prices. I also like silver coins from about the size of a US dime to US half dollar. Just like you can find circulated US silver coins selling for close to their silver value, I find foreign coins for close to their silver content. It's not unusual to find silver Canadian dimes and quarters in junk bins from those who don't know better. Silver coins were made by many countries up until WWII, and several kept on until the 1960s. Although buying silver 'crown' sized coins (the size of a Morgan or Peace dollar) would use up most of your budget, the smaller silver coins are plentiful and not too expensive. You'll probably exhaust the selection from your current dealer. I'd look for other dealers, or ideally, a local coin show. -wheatiefan |
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Valued Member
United States
128 Posts |
More great replies. Thank you all very much. I continue to peruse ebay as well as look through the KM Guide, the worldcoingallery website and this site. I am looking through my things trying to find items to sell for coin money (don't tell the wife... she thinks that I am just finally clearing out my junk.) "You'll probably exhaust the selection from your current dealer. I'd look for other dealers, or ideally, a local coin show." I looked through his entire foreign coin bucket, but he said that he has about 100 more pounds of coins "in the back" if I want to look through more. That should keep me busy for a few visits (provided he doesn't get tired of hauling out many pounds of coins to make $5-$7.) There are a few more dealers within a reasonable distance that I have not visited yet as well. I have been considering buying one of those 5lb lots on ebay, but am hesitant. Anyone get those? Right now I am more concerned with seeing what is out there rather than landing gems (though I wouldn't complain.) Would buying bulk from a local dealer be better (though more expensive at the 5lb mark.) I bought a 1965 Rouble commemorating WWII victory on ebay for $4 shipped. It only books for $1 or $2, but I liked it and it seemed in decent shape from the photo. What's cooler that a statuesque Russian with a sword standing atop a crushed swastika?  Edited by Nazarene
06/14/2010 03:09 am
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
If you want to flesh out your collection quickly then bulk buying is a good way. But with each lot you buy you're going to get more duplicates and the percentage of new finds goes down. It also depends on whether you're happy with just one example of a type and not bother with every year or you want everything (like me). That's why I've got nearly 600 German coins from between 1949 to the introduction of the euro. There were four different mints for every year and then five after reunification. But I'm still finding the odd missing year and mint even now.
And a nice rouble.
Edited by Staff
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Replies: 15 / Views: 2,014 |
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Posted 06/11/2010 9:11 pm
